Doggone it, Marie, French bread is supposed to be crisp and crunchy.
The way to deal with it, to make it softer is to place a COOLED loaf into a
plastic bag and wait several hours. It will be as soft as the store-bought
stuff.
The fat, by the way, was not meant to make the crust soft. The oil was
added because that's the way they've always DONE it.
Most great French bread is baked with no fat whatsoever.
I make mine with whole wheat flour. Yes it looks strange, but the taste is
out of this world.
Ciao!
Bev
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